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That was the first sentence that came out of my mouth when Abel told me to take a left. I had been driving through some pretty patchy roads for less than a kilometre when he made his request. My response had little to do with him – it was because I had spotted the ‘left’ he wanted me to take. And it was an extremely steep uphill climb through a ragged rocky road, one that I would barely consider going on foot, let alone an actual vehicle.

But more on that later.

Since its first model was launched in 1948 under the simplistic title of the Land Rover, the company has significantly expanded its repertoire over the decades, adding such classics as the Freelander, Discovery, Evoque and Sport across its journey. It is an apt measure of their longevity that today, nearly seven decades later, they are still considered the gold standard when it comes to 4x4 vehicles across the world.

The concept of the ‘Land Rover Experience’ is something truly unique and shows a) the amount of respect the company places on the public and most importantly b) the faith it has in its product. Realising that the vast majority of test drives do not allow the public to use the showroom vehicle to see the best part – the offroading capabilities - of these vehicles, the Land Rover Experience was set up in select locations across the globe. Here, people could come and test the vehicles out under extremely strenuous off-roading scenarios, including hills, on water, sand or snow, depending on the conditions.

When I got the call to attend Kerala’s first ever LandRoverExperience thanks to Blogadda, I will not lie to you: I was just as nervous as I was excited. It was a lifetime opportunity and one that I had no intention to shun and yet, I was scared as well. Like the vast majority of the Indian public, I too had zero experience in offroading… well, unless you count the potholed Indian roads which are pretty close!

Knowing that this was going to happen, I did steel myself to be prepared for the ride.

Now that I am safely back, I can tell you this much… nothing could have prepared me for how awesome and exhilarating an adventure it turned out to be.

“It
is okay provided the couple are in
love and in a deeply committed relationship.”

“As long as they are planning to get
married, I guess.”

“It
is today’s world. After seeing all
these Western shows and movies, today’s youth would be influenced…”

You
know what the scary part is? That the above statements are from those defending
pre-marital sex. You are defending it and yet you add so many caveats. Contrast
this to the naysayers and defenders of mankind’s pre-nuptial virginity.

“It is against our
culture.”

“It is against our
religion.”

“It is a sin.”

“It is because of
chowmein.”

There is such a surety about their convictions, even if it
is as absurd as claiming food and mobile phones as causes of pre-marital sex. You
know that they are not going to budge. Sex without matching horoscopes or a
wedding ring is obviously a crime that warrants the death penalty in their
heads.

If you believe that your sexuality is your choice, stop trying
to defend it half-heartedly because you fear society, religious values et al.
Take a bold stand. When you add riders like “should be in love”, “should be
deeply committed” etc, you are missing the whole point of the conversation.
Look around you. Can you honestly say that every married couple around you is
in love? That there is a deep sense of commitment between them?

You and I both know that you answered in the negative. But
the social norm is that even if you cannot stand the sight of each other, you
must go to bed and engage in sex with him/her because of the marriage
certificate. On the other hand, a young couple in love cannot kiss even though
they are strongly attracted to each other because ‘that would be wrong.’

This is where you lose me. You look to shame an expression
of love/desire/attraction between two consenting adults yet say ‘it happens’
when physical abuse/marital rape/subjugation in a marriage occurs and counsel
the mentally scarred victim to stay in the relation.

You can quote all the scriptures and verses you want but you
just have not factored in the basic attributes of the human heart and mind: every
heart yearns for love, affection and intimacy; every mind yearns for a
compatible partner. You cannot pinpoint why two people are attracted to each
other just as you cannot gauge the true depth of emotional commitment between
any two people. I won’t even accept that this is a ‘problem of the new generation.’
Pre-marital sex has been going on since centuries and has little, if anything,
to do with the advent of mobile phones, chowmein or tv shows. You cannot switch
off puberty and all that comes with it, just because you think it is wrong.

You have never heard his name.
And yet, you and I are probably alive today because of him and his perseverance.

Born of Hungarian ancestry,
Semmelweis initially joined a law college back in 1837 before switching over to
the medical field. While working in the Vienna General Hospital, this young man
in his twenties doing his surgical training noticed a very curious fact. The
hospital ran two maternity clinics, one run largely by medical students while
the other was largely attended to by midwives. He found that the death rate in
the hospital run by medical students was significantly higher (13% as against
2% in the second maternity clinic run by midwives.) The deaths included both
pregnant mothers and newborn infants, secondary to puerperal fever, a form of
septicemia. It reached such a level that women begged not to be sent to the first
clinic for their delivery, even preferring to deliver on the streets in some sad
cases.

The findings stumped this
young man initially. How could trained doctors be killing more women and
children than midwives? The doctors offered many reasons in their defence but
none really sat right with Semmelweis.

Streptococcus pyogenes,
the cause of puerperal fever
still exists today.

It was when a friend of his
died following an accidental ‘minor’ prick while performing an autopsy that the
mystery started to unravel before Ignaz’s eyes. As he watched his friend die,
he noted that his friend had the same symptoms as those pregnant women and
newborns who suffered a premature end. He realized that most of the doctors
were coming straight from the autopsies they had conducted and into the labour
room to deliver newborn. Though they were washing their hands with soap and
water, it was not enough to clean the doctors hands entirely. That was the
difference – the midwives never participated in autopsies and hence never
carried the ‘infectious particles’ from the dead back to the living.

Semmelweis' endeavours resulted
in him challenging the iron-clad system and demanding that his peers use stronger
chlorinated lime solutions to wash their hands before conducting any procedure
on a living patient. As it always has and sadly still continues to be, the
words of a young man trying to change what is the norm were not well received
by his seniors and peers. His implications that the doctors were themselves
responsible for the deaths of the women and newborn was met with barely concealed
anger and stiff resistance. And yet, statistics were in Semmelweis favour.

Once his method was
implemented, the death rate fell from 13% to 2.38%, with no fatalities reported
at all in some months, something unheard of back then in the obstetric set up. Even
as the statistics supported him, the mind-sets resisted. They mocked his theory
of these ‘invisible infectious particles’ whenever he spoke of it. The proof of
the presence of the invisible killers – what you and I know as bacteria – would arrive only decades
later, demonstrated successfully by Louis Pasteur. Semmelweis passed away a
year later at the age of 47, still trying to convince the medical field to wash
their hands before and after every procedure.

Today, we in the medical field
call him the ‘saviour of mothers’. Semmelweis' Germ theory is taught to every medical student, making us aware of the
invisible particles than can make us doctors killers even as we try to be
healers.

That my mom is a wonderful cook is pretty much apparent from my 'never shrinking belly'. She has arguably the largest collection of recipes in the district and I honestly don't feel I am exaggerating when I say that. I can picture her cutting recipes from Femina and Women's Era back in the 80's when I was a small kid in Dubai and now three decades on, she's still at it even today, taking down notes from online cookery sites to try out at home.Over the past few months, she has indeed been trying out quite a few dishes from both the traditional Malabar cuisine (remember this array of yummy food pics?) as well as international cuisine. And I figured what better place than at my site to showcase some of these dishes.

Today, I wanted to treat you all to a healthy Keralite tea time snack that has quite a few unique features - the Vattayappam or steamed rice cake.

Like most Indian males, I have experimented with my facial
hair a lot – A LOT – over the years. I have oscillated between a long early
adult phase of being clean shaven to having an Arabian beard for a few years
(mimicking my dad) before finally reverting back to being clean shaven.

That middle one was during my brief phase as theMexican Superhero 'El Loco de Burrito'

Of course, as anyone will tell you, it is not easy being
clean shaven all the time. Especially when you work 24/7 as a doctor in a busy
hospital. And you have to realise that as an anaesthesiologist, most of my time
is spent hidden within a surgical mask. The temptation is always there to not bother to shave
and just allow the mask to hide my face for days on end. I admit I and my colleagues
have done it on many an occasion during my post graduate days when you would
enter the operation theatre on day one and leave as the sun was setting on day 2.

Am I smiling? Am I sticking my tongue out at you?You will never know!

But that was one aspect that I left behind when I finished
my post graduation. Working as a consultant, I made sure that no matter where I
was, I always shaved before heading off from home the next morning. The patients I encounter on a daily basis still do not get
to see me for the most part as the mask forms an integral part of my everyday
gear. And yet, the simple act of being clean shaven every morning gave me a
truly unique opportunity in the most unexpected way.